and a free maritime museum. It was one block from our bus tour stop - bought tickets for every thing we needed to do at the concierge desk.

This mirror...I want one.

We were not there long and we had found a local Italian place to grab lunch.

DH had clam chowder and Joe and I split his kids meal. Food was getting expensive

and I am not lying when I say we are spoiled with food quality/prices in the Midwest.

Then, we boarded a double decker open air bus to tour downtown.

We bought a 2 day pass and

this and foot were the only way we moved about in the city.

These power lines are for the public bus system, we were first introduced to them in Seattle.
They were not far above our head and carried a 660V current.

Cool statue at Tiffany and Co (the story that went with it was something about a large age difference b/t Mr. Tiffany and his lovah)

The Hibernia bank was robbed in the 1970's by Patty Hearst and Co after she fell in love with her kidnappers (this was her grandfather's bank)...she was caught and arrested, served time and then married a jailer. LOL

The tour guide sang for this dog and he stuck his head out the window for us from a

second story apt.

We got off at Chinatown and soaked up the culture and sights,

but didn't find any of the deep bargains that you hear tell of.

I am still fascinated at the segregation in the city, an area for all folks.

I guess you live near other like selves

The city landscape was fascinating, mostly steep hills,

the flat land was built over abandoned ships.

Hills are real, flat is fake.

The fishermen left their ships for the gold rush inland long ago,

the city did not know what to do with them all, so they sunk them and built atop.

If you build in this area today, you have to have an archaeologist on site at all times.

Not to mention all the building codes for earthquakes (and tsunamis).

We saw a map of the sunken ships layout in the maritime museum, pretty fascinating.

We also saw this 2nd order lighthouse lens in the museum.

We had several great views of Alcatraz. The tours were full and the boys

seemed uninterested, I am certain if we taught them about it, they would love to see it someday.

We found Ghirardelli square just around the corner from our Hotel, we grabbed us some sweet caramel chocolate squares! There were street vendors everywhere.

We asked about a hat at one of them but did not buy anything.

We saw many homeless all along the west coast, in about every stop we made.

Much to be sad and concerned about.

Sam was OVER pics at this point.

I can totally tell that I am say with clenched jaw - Sam move your hand what are you doing.

to which he giggles, takes a normal picture, and then says he was blocking dad out.

bahahaha

This station was also right next to our hotel, we didn't ride any of these either.

Looked cool and fascinating to operate, though the lines were super long

Back in the hotel DH was researching our agenda for our last full day - or maybe searching Twitter lol and the boys were writing out post cards to send to friends and family

And playing Wii in the lobby every chance we got.

Don't worry I did not complain, there were lounge chairs right beside them and complimentary

fruit infused water from a glass cup - heaven!

I enjoyed a few sips of wine during one of the happy hours..but I had to chase it down with the water, hahaha!

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{our images only}

{our family}

My name is Ashley (or Mama - depending on who you ask)! I have been married to my high school sweetheart, Dan, for 10 years. I am the lucky mama to two handsome boys, Sam and Joe. They are our chosen children brought into our lives by adoption. I will strive to be a faithful child of God, loving wife, wonderful mother, caring Pharmacist, active church member and loyal friend and family member. I may be tired at the end of the day, but wish to hear, "Job well done."